‘I prefer not to say I conducted them, rather that I made music with these marvellous musicians and human beings.’ So Carlo Maria Giulini described his legendary partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – a relationship that was marked by mutual respect and affection and resulted in some of the greatest performances in the orchestra’s history. The recordings here mainly date from Giulini’s years as Prinicipal Guest Conductor of the CSO and include magisterial and intensely expressive readings of Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, as well as accounts of Stravinsky’s fiendishly difficult ballet suites that showcase the orchestra’s virtuoso musicians at their very best.
